Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick
Santorum, a Republican, has criticized a gay marriage ruling handed
down by a judge he recommended for the bench.
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones on
May 20 struck down Pennsylvania's restrictive marriage ban without
staying his decision. Pennsylvania became the 19th state,
in addition to the District of Columbia, to allow gay couples to
marry when Governor Tom Corbett decided not to appeal Jones' ruling.
In 2002, Santorum supported Jones'
nomination to the bench, calling him “highly qualified.”
“We're all entitled to a mistake,”
Santorum told The
Huffington Post on Friday after he addressed a Road to
Majority summit audience.
“The court has to stop being the
judge and jury for the consciousness of America,” Santorum said of
rulings striking down marriage bans. “That's not what the court's
supposed to be. The court's supposed to uphold the Constitution, not
change the Constitution based on what they think is the current mood
of the day.”